


Don't push it.

by vat7k



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Apologies, Arguing, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29022840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vat7k/pseuds/vat7k
Summary: Hugo, used to the younger's usual rage, threw his arm around Varian’s shoulders. “Just tell me! I won't judge! I’ve had my fair share of crimes in the past and-” He stopped as he felt Varian push him harshly.“I said drop it, okay?!” Varian glared at Hugo with a look the blond had never seen before. He’d been glared at by the alchemist many times before but this… this was different. “Just leave me alone.” The ravenette stormed off in the other direction. Hugo watched with terrified eyes and Nuru and Yong just cringed visibly.
Relationships: Hugo & Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Hugo/Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 91





	Don't push it.

**Author's Note:**

> I am once again telling you I didn't proof read.

“Goggles, what is this?” Hugo held up a poster that was plastered with a detailed sketch of Varian scowling with the word “WANTED” boldly scribbled at the bottom.

Varian’s heart sank. Great! Lovely! They found his wanted posters from when he was fourteen. “Nothing.” He turned his back to the group.

Nuru and Yong studied the poster as Hugo followed at Varian’s heels. “It doesn’t look like nothing.”

Varian rolled his eyes, not paying mind to the man following him. “I’m serious, leave it.”

Hugo placed a hand onto the alchemist’s shoulder, stopping his useless pacing. “Hair-stripe, what is this? C'mon it’s not a big deal. What kind of high-stakes crimes could a little guy like you commit to have so many wanted posters, hm?”

Varian turned to look at the blond man, narrowing his eyes. “Drop. It.”

Hugo, used to the younger's usual rage, threw his arm around Varian’s shoulders. “Just tell me! I won't judge! I’ve had my fair share of crimes in the past and-” He stopped as he felt Varian push him harshly.

“I said drop it, okay?!” Varian glared at Hugo with a look the blond had never seen before. He’d been glared at by the alchemist many times before but this… this was different. “Just leave me alone.” The ravenette stormed off in the other direction. Hugo watched with terrified eyes and Nuru and Yong just cringed visibly.

Hugo shrugged, trying to ward off the hot ball of guilt pooling his stomach. “Someone’s in a bad mood.”

_____________ 

The next morning Hugo awoke with a stretch and a loud yawn. He walked out of his tent, examining the small campsite they were at. He tilted his head slightly confused at the lack of the smell of breakfast being made. Usually Varian would have cooked for everyone by now.

He sat on a log next to Nuru, staring at the pile of wood before them that usually had a fire going. “Where’s hair-stripe?”

Nuru, annoyed, looked at the male with little to no interest. “He’s still asleep in his tent.”

Hugo’s usual smirk dropped. “Still?” He looked back at Varian’s tent. “He okay?”

Nuru shrugged and Hugo sighed, getting up and beginning to make his own food. If his instincts was anything to go off of, he was assuming Varian sleeping in had something to do with yesterday and he wasn’t exactly sure the alchemist was too keen on the idea of talking to him at the moment so he decided to not check in on him. 

He cooked breakfast for himself in an awkward silence. He missed Varian's insults.

_____________ 

Once everyone had awoken, it was time to start traveling again. Usually, Varian was chipper as ever, happily speaking as he told everyone directions. Instead, Varian barely said anything.

"We need to keep moving forward on this path." He said dully and put the map down, beginning to lead the group forward.

They walked in silence, an awkward tension dripping in the air. Hugo didn't like this. He decided to tease his friend to lighten the mood. "Hey goggles, sleeping on the job, eh? Slacking off this morning…"

Varain didn't respond and only let out an "ugh" in annoyance and picked up his pace, walking away from Hugo.

Hugo stopped dead in his tracks. Usually Varian would angrily bark back something like "Yeah right! I keep this whole team together, I deserve some rest!” instead he just ignored him. Something was definitely wrong.

_____________ 

Hugo swallowed the rest of his meal before sitting up from the log he was on and deciding to head off to his tent for the night. After all, there was no point in staying up late since Varian had gone to sleep early. If he couldn't bicker with the man, he didn't want to be awake.

He barely took a step before he was pulled by his collar roughly. Yellow eyes bore daggers into his green ones. "Well hello, Nuru. Whatever could it be that little old me did to piss you off this time." He asked in a mocking tone.

"You need to apologize. NOW." 

"uh…I'm sorry?" Hugo tried. He had no clue what she was talking about.

She dropped the man's collar with a frustrated groan at his stupidity. "No, moron! To Varian."

"Me?! What'd I do?!" Hugo quizzically raided a brow in shock.

"Man you are dumber than you look, and that's saying a lot."

"Rude."

"You're the one that pushed Varian's boundaries! You made him upset! He asked you to stop!" She whispered harshly, trying not to wake Varian or Yong.

Hugo felt that feeling of hot guilt rise up in his stomach again. She was right but he wasn't about to admit it. "So? It wasn't a big deal! He shouldn't have overreacted!"

She once again gripped the man by the collar of his shirt. "Hugo, so help me God, I will end your life here and now if you do not swallow your pride and make it up to Varian."

"Jeez! Fine! Lemme go!" Hugo grabbed the teens wrists in his hands, pulling her grip from his collar. "Just- I'll do it in the morning, okay?" 

"Whatever! Just do it!" Nuru huffed and walked off towards her tent and Hugo retired to his own shortly after. Tomorrow would be long.

_____________

The next morning Hugo realized he had awoken before everyone else for a change. He swiftly took the opportunity to try and make it up to Varian by cooking breakfast. Sure, it's not a verbal apology but who needs em? Actions over words.

Hugo had only gotten the fire started with the pan over it, eggs laid in them when he heard shuffling behind him. He threw a glance over his shoulder to see Varian awake. "What are you doing?"

"Morning compadre! I thought about how you already do so much for us and decided to take over for a change, so I'm making breakfast!" He supplied, giving the alchemist a hopeful grin.

Varian stared at him blankly, blinking a few times and an awkward silence overtook the two. 

"I'm not hungry."

It was a simple statement but the way Varian said it made it clear to Hugo he wanted nothing to do with him and his smile dropped immediately. It quickly made its return as he offered something else. "W-Well I'll make ya some for later! That way-"

"No thanks." Varian said, walking past the man and wandering out towards the forest.

"Whatcha doin?" Hugo asked.

"Getting wood for the fire later." 

Hugo wanted to move and join him but he stayed seated. He watched as the man disappeared into the distance, a bad taste in his mouth. This was going to be harder than it looked.

_____________ 

As the gang traveled to their next town Hugo could practically feel Nuru's eyes glaring holes into the back of his head. Okay so maybe his first plan didn't work so well, but he had an idea that'd work for sure this time!

As they had entered the town, Hugo felt a smug confidence grow in his chest. Ah yes, a town he was quite familiar with in his adolescence. He'd had his fair share of thieving from this village. He hoped that not only his age but his dyed hair and new glasses would keep him from having to lay low from the townsfolk.

As they walked around, they came up to a wooden post littered with many posters for wanted outlaws and celebrations for many things. 

Nuru grabbed one of the stapled pieces of paper, studying it closely. Despite the brown hair and lack of glasses, she could easily tell it was a younger Hugo. The word "WANTED" had been hastily scribbled at the bottom. "Hugo, is this-"

He grabbed the paper from her hands, ignoring her shout of protest as he crumpled it into a ball and threw it. "Nope!" Be beamed a fake smile to which Nuru rolled her eyes.

They gang carried on, checking in at an Inn so they'd have an actual place to stay tonight as opposed to sleeping at a campground. They had let Nuru handle paying and asking for rooms this time. As she turned, she had a small smile tugging at her lips that'd seem innocent to anyone but Hugo was not just anyone. "Oh no guys, I could only afford three rooms… hope you don't mind that I had to put Varian and Hugo together."

Hugo gave a strained smile of pure mental agony. "Great." He said, giving the woman a murderous look. She was dead set on having him verbally apologizing. Too bad for her, that just wasn't happening. Still determined to avoid having to actually apologize, Hugo remembered his plan.

Varian slightly stiffened next to him, blowing a puff of air through his nose. "Fine." He said and Hugo felt his heart ache a little at the other man's clear unwillingness to bunk with him despite how he said it was fine.

_____________ 

The group had all split off to be left to their own devices and agreed to meet back at the Inn in an hour.

Hugo set his plan into action the moment he was left alone. He remembered an old bookstore in the village and hurriedly headed over, nearly jogging inside. He spent a good thirty minutes browsing the shelves, knowing he had to find something Varian would absolutely love. Something about alchemy was too obvious… perhaps something similar like basic science? No, no… too predictable.

Eventually he chose a rather thick book filled to the brim with information of raccoons. Varian had constantly talked about his furry friend… what was his name? Ruddi…? Rudy? It didn't matter. He knew this was the perfect gift not just because of Varian's pet but he had always been there to listen to Varian's rambles about how he was simply fascinated by the species late at night. He'd pretend not to listen, but he had actually become quite enthralled in the man's speeches of the creatures.

Grinning confidently, he returned to the Inn, going to Varian and his room and waiting on the bed for the alchemist to return.

It was only a good twenty minutes or so when the other boy had returned, opening the door and eyes drooping to an irritated look once he spotted Hugo on their shared bed.

"Hey!" Hugo cleared his throat and corrected himself for sounding too eager. "Hey." 

Varian raised a brow at him, simply coming over and sitting on the bed, as far away from the blond as possible as he stripped his shoes off and set them down on the carpet below. 

"I uh- I got you something…" he tried to keep a polite grin as he scooted over to Varian and shoved the book into his hands.

Varian, annoyed facial expression never faltering, looked Hugo in the eyes and said, "I've already read this." And handed the book back to him, looking away as he began to busy himself with taking off his backpack and shedding the first layer of his top, leaving him in only his undershirt. 

"Oh." Hugo dumbly said, nervously chuckling. Usually he'd take the opportunity to poke fun at Varian and flirt by saying something like "I'd like to see what's under the undershirt." to get a reaction out of him but the air was too awkward so instead he asked, "Was it good?"

Varian shrugged. "I guess." He shimmied his way under the sheets of the bed, getting comfortable and trying to ignore Hugo.

"Goodnight." Hugo awkwardly stuttered out only to get no response. He hated this. 

Not after long, he too crawled under the blankets, making sure to stay as far on his side as possible to give Varian his space. He was sure the boy didn't want to interact with him at all. He didn't even comfort him when the man awoke in the middle of the night from a nightmare and sobbed quietly next to him. He just pretended he was asleep and hoped to mend their bond as soon as possible.

_____________ 

The next morning Hugo awoke to see Varian was already out of bed and onto his usual routine of ignoring the blond and Hugo was beginning to get used to it. No "Good morning!" Welcome or "Are you okay?" From how red the alchemist's eyes were from crying last night. Hugo said nothing.

The rest of the day went on as "normal" as it could with Varian's sour mood. Usual things like Hugo teasing Varian was not met back with bickering or teasing in return. Varian only groaned and walked away.

By the end of the day the friends had returned to their rooms in the Inn for their second and last night of staying in town.

Hugo tried desperately to do anything he could to apologize to the alchemist without having to actually say "I'm sorry." He wasn't sure why he was so opposed to it. If you were to ask him, he'd simply say "I'm allergic to apologizing." But in all honesty it was hard for him to just swallow his pride and say it.

He got up from the bed he was sitting on. The two had been getting ready for bed but Hugo needed some advice. "I'll be back."

He walked down the hall and knocked on Nuru's door who opened it and dropped her polite smile the moment she saw who it was. "Hey."

"Hey… I need some advice."

"Oh? Hugo is coming to me, Nuru, his worst enemy for advice?" She laughed. 

Hugo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Don't get used to it." He walked in as Nuru opened the door wider and motioned for him to come in. 

They both sat on the bed and Nuru looked at him. "What's up?"

Hugo sighed."I just… I don't know how to apologize to hair-stripe."

She raised a brow. "Do you want to apologize to him?"

Hugo went silent for a moment. "Yes! I do… I really do."

"Why?"

Hugo looked at the teen, confused. "Uh why do you need to know? Shouldn't it be obvious?"

The princess shook her head. "No, Hugo. I need you to say it out loud. You need to hear it."

Hugo looked to the ground. "Well… I want to apologize because me and Varian have this thing… I know we argue all the time but that's still important to me and I miss it. We were becoming close and I don't want to ruin that. I feel so bad for hurting him but I don't know how to fix it." He paused. "Plus I…" he trailed off not finishing the sentence.

Nuru smiled softly. "See? You can do it. I know that took a lot to admit and it's going to take a lot more to admit to Varian but you're going to have to to apologize, Hugo."

The duo sat for a moment before Hugo spoke. "You're right." He got up and headed for the door but not before turning and saying, "Thanks twinkles!" And he left.

_____________ 

Hugo took it upon himself to apologize the next time he saw Varian alone which was two days later during another rest at a camping spot. He caught Varian in the early morning hours, cooking something over the fire. He awkwardly sat next to him on the log he was on but kept a good distance just in case.

Varian looked at him with a look of "what do you want?" But said nothing. 

Hugo sighed. "Whatcha doing?"

"Cooking. For myself." Varian boredly responded, returning his gaze to the bacon on the pan. 

"Coolio." Hugo nervously patted his hands against his legs until he finally said something. "Look goggles-" he stopped. "Varian… I messed up. Really bad. I pushed you when I shouldn't have. You told me to stop and I didn't so I was way out of line to keep pushing. I should have respected your wishes and not kept asking. So yeah, I fucked up bad…" he sucked in a breath and was about to continue before Varian interjected.

"Obviously."

"Ouch… okay… yep… I deserved that-"

"Obviously."

"Would you stop being so stubborn? I'm trying to apologize!" He took a deep breath and tried again. "Sorry. What I'm trying to say is… I'm sorry. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I really cherish our friendship… even if it's not like what most would consider a friendship. I miss our bickering… I miss when we would wake up before everyone else and you would tell me about the constellations in a geeky way-"

"It's not geeky!"

"Sure goggles. Point is, I miss you. And I'm sorry." He sighed and looked down. "Look, I get it if you don't forgive me. What I did was wrong and I honestly--"

"It's fine--" Varian looked at Hugo and for the first time in a few days, he didn't look angry.

Hugo wanted to take the forgiveness but he wasn't sure. "Is it really fine?"

"I mean… no. It's not fine. But I forgive you. And uh… I'm sorry for being a jerk. I could've just ignored you but instead I gave you a bunch of passive aggressive comments even when you were trying to do nice things for me."

Hugo chuckled. "Nah, I deserved that. Maybe next time just bonk me over the head, eh?"

The two laughed and sat in a comfortable silence as the smell of bacon wafted into the air. Varian looked at Hugo. "You want some?"

Hugo smiled. "I'd like that."


End file.
